Breakfalls in Shorinji Kempo

[mateo]

Although I've never trained in Shorinji Kempo I've seen classes and demos and always been very impressed with the art's breadth.

When I was in Osaka the Manager of NCB English School was reputed to be the highest ranking non-Japanese Shorinji Kempo practitioner. One of my buddies worked out with and him said he was quite formidable. ( I'm forgetting his name at the moment. )
He said that as he got to the higher levels the emphasis on Buddhism started to be a bit much for him a he was a devout Christian.

I always wondered about the practise of taking falls on hardwood floors; Do you think it encourages the tori not commit to throwing as hard? Are there many injuries for the uke? ( I would think that ankles would be bruised quite often. ) I often saw falls where the uke was allowed to land on his feet. When this is not the case how does your manner of taking breakfalls differ from say judo or aikido?

[Tripitaka of AA]

I see you have put the question on E-Budo too. Hopefully we can get some answers here too.

The one part I can pick up on is

Do you think it encourages the tori not commit to throwing as hard?

From my limited experience, I'd have to say that throwing hard is the best thing a tori can do! Anything less than a full throw will lead to a slower, more clumsy and potentially more painful landing. Trying to help uke by slowing down will actually make everything a lot more difficult, and of course, it will also have a detrimental effect on the learning process (real people won't be throwing you in slow motion).

I don't personally have much experience of breakfalls or ukemi outside of Shorinji Kempo. Sorry I can't offer much in the way of relatve comparison. I can tell you that I learned in a Dojo that had a hard wooden floor (not particularly sprung, but better than some I've been to), and that we had no mats. I've also trained with mats elsewhere and found them to be both helpful and a hindrance to learning, in roughly equal measure. Not to mention the toe injuries that those blasted mats can cause .

I had occasion to be part of Demos that were given on whatever surface was available. The familiarity with hard floor trainng certainly made it easier to cope with unusual surfaces (mainly the "confidence" thing). The worst was the Cobblestones at the Piazza in London's Covent Garden. Luckily, on that occasion I was wearing a Hoi, the Shorinji Kempo ceremonial garment that you may have seen us wear (black robe, sleeves rolled up, worn over white dogi). The "sausage" obi can give a nice cushion if you're lucky



At this point, it might be fun if some friendly MMA or NHB guy would roll up and say that my ukemi would be useless against a Judo, or BJJ takedown. I wouldn't have much to offer in rebuttal, but there may be others who can...

[Tripitaka of AA]

TTT (To The Top)

[jabonn]

David,

My ukemi (Judo and BJJ) is ugly compared to those in Aikido. I would guess that the ukemi that you learned in S.K. would be better than most Judo-ka here in the states.

I have never taken a fall from shiai on a hardwood surface. We practice take downs in Uechi-ryu but not near the speed and velocity of a Judo waza. I have always been impressed with the S.K. folks taking falls on hardwood. I just wondered how long their bodies with stood the abuse of hard practice? I know after a week of tournament prep. that my body feels like it has been run over by a truck and those falls are on tatami.

[Colin Linz]

After sixteen years of training I’m still doing it. It can cause injury when not done properly, but the most I’ve ever received is a sprained ankle. There are many kenshi in Japan that have been training for a great many years and seem to suffer no ill effects.

These days we do tend to use matts when training in nage waza for extended periods of times like during training camps and study sessions. But most dojo’s still use the wooden floor for normal training. I generally find the pain in the wrists keep my mind of any other pain.